Growing up in Florida has its benefits, and one of my favorites was summer vacations to The Colony in Sarasota. It was a lovely resort on the Gulf of Mexico I visited with family many summers. Sadly, The Colony has been closed for several years, but I still have many fond memories. One of those was the fizzy limeade served by the pool. It was magical to me because it was so sweet and refreshing, and I’ve never had anything like it since. Plus I totally felt like a grown-up ordering it from the poolside bar. It immediately came to mind when I happened upon this Mint Limeade Fizz recipe. Summer is in full swing here, and nothing could be better than a fizzy limeade!
This mint limeade fizz is refreshing, citrusy, bubbly, and most definitely the drink of the summer!
The Ingredients
There are no surprises here, and nothing outrageously pricey or hard to find. The short list of ingredients is exactly what you think it should be: carbonated water, limes, mint, and sugar.
Most of the equipment is very basic, but one thing you’ll definitely want is an electric juicer. The recipe says juicing 5-9 limes will give you the necessary 1 cup of lime juice, but I needed 12. Juicing that many limes by hand? No thanks!
The Process
The instructions for this recipe are clear and easy to follow, from making the syrup to rimming the glass and mixing up the limeade. It did take me slightly longer than the 15 minutes listed (18 minutes), but I still consider this a quick recipe.
This recipe made me experiment to find the flavor I liked best. I ended up making it twice, and here is how it went both times.
My First Try
I made the recipe almost exactly as instructed and started off with 1/4 cup of the rich simple syrup. The limeade was very tart, and upping the simple syrup to a 1/2 cup tasted much better to me.
The only way I deviated from the instructions was by not muddling the mint. It was already sliced and there was no need to muddle it since slicing already released the oils/flavor. However, I didn’t taste the mint at all in my drink. I wanted to fix that, so I gave it another try a few days later.
My Second Try
This time I wanted to taste the mint, so I got crafty. I added the sliced mint leaves to the lime juice and let it steep for 2 hours to infuse it with the mint flavor. Then I strained out the mint leaves and made the limeade per the directions. That did the trick and gave me limeade with a subtle mint flavor. It might sound like an odd pairing, but I preferred the minty version.
